Post date: Sep 28, 2013 8:46:46 PM
Former U.S. soldier Joseph Manuel Hunter pleads "not guilty" in a New Yorkfederal court after being arrested for plotting to murder a U.S. federal drug agent and an informant.
NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES (4:3) (SEPTEMBER 28, 2013) (REUTERS-JANE ROSENBERG) - Former U.S. soldier Joseph Manuel Hunter, nicknamed "Rambo," pleaded "not guilty" in federal court in Manhattan on Saturday (September 28), after being arrested in a plot to murder a U.S. federal drug agent and an informant.
Hunter was charged with recruiting a team of former military snipers, including an ex-U.S. Army sergeant and several former soldiers from other countries, to commit the murders on behalf of two Colombian drug cartel leaders.Those cartel leaders were, in fact, Drug Enforcement Administration informants posing as druglords.
The DEA informants agreed to pay Hunter and two others $700,000 for the two killings, as well as an additional $100,000 to Hunter "for his leadership role," according to an indictment filed in New York.
The killings were to take place in Liberia, according to Manhattan U.S. AttorneyPreet Bharara.
Hunter was originally arrested in Bangkok, Thailand where he lived, and then extradited to the U.S. on Friday evening.
He is also charged with providing security services for cocaine shipments originating in Asia and bound for the United States.